The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1887-01-29
THE MYSTERIOUS NAME.

ONLY the High Priest Could speak IT,
Once each year, on the Day OF Atone
mspt. while the Jewish Temple at Jern-
salem remained, the High Priest was
aecustomed to pronounce upon the bowed
and awc.stricken multitude OF worship
ers the blessing which contained the
mysterious name Of God. On no other
occasion, and from the lips OF no other
person. could this name be spoken, and
when the sacred city fell before the ko'
man armies, and the temple itself was
razed to the ground. the ceremony like
wise perished aud the name vas lost
A peculiar interest in this exttraordI-
nary name has always been evinced by
scholars and antiquarians. There Is
something in the mystery that surrounds
it, that appeals alike to the strict rel'g-
ionist and to the investigator whose only
=. motive is the desire tn explore the region
of the obscure What was this name
that could not even be pronounced with
out blaspbemy, and which has, in conse-
auence, passed away from the knosledge
: of mankind'
As is we'll known, the cousonants OF
the word are JHVH or YHVH; and
since the time Of the Hebraist Galatinus
she popular usage has been to pronounce
it Jehovah, following the example OF that
scholar. Yet no one believed this to be
In any way correct, aud the ingenuity OF
hundreds Of commentators has been taxed
10 restore the original vowels. The
name itself, however, as it was primarily
pronounced, is one OF marvellous antiq-
nity. 1t WAS derived from verb, but
was almost forgotten in the time of
Moses, aud its origin is absolutely lost in
the mists OF an antiquity that makes the
pyramids seem insufferably modern. 1t
was the essentially national name given
TO the Creator by the Jews--the name by
which they thought OF Him iu the pri-
vacy OF their own homes, in the presence
OF their own altars--too sacred to be
spoken. save once each year and by the
lips Of the consecrated priest OF the Most
High. So hedged about was it with rev.
.erence that the Rabbins do not even dare
20 write about it, but allude to it mystic
riously as ''rhe Name, or "The Name
of Four Letters,' in which the Samari-
tansl slikewise follow them. Yet, although
it seems 30 wholly Jewish, some Of the
most singular condolences are to be
found in the usage of other ancient Ian.
guages In the Chinese, some thousand
years before Christ, there are allusens to
a name of three mystical letters--IHV, ~
denoting that which none can compre.
hsnd. Among the Ph@nciaps the name
had equal reverence; the Greek writers
speak of the great name" which they
impertectly give as IEU0 or lao; and
au inscription in the adytum by the tenn.
pie of Isis at the Egyptian SAILS recalls
the same dread tetragrammaton. 1t
would seem almost as though this were
the title by which primeval man was
divinely taught to worship his Creator.
As has been said, the name, so far as
can be learned, has never been pro
nounced since Titus destroyed the Tenn
pie Of Jerusalem in A. ID. 20. Whether
before that time it was ever 10 any way
fully committed to writing is quite uu-
known. Some Of the Rabbins who are
unable to deny that the recorded mira
oles of Christ were actually wrought, de-
clare that he accomplished them by &C.